In video platforms known by those of skill in the art, video from multiple data collection devices can be integrated so the video is viewed in the same video viewer. However, when video is exported from different devices, there is no standard mechanism for protecting the integrity of the video and allowing playback of uncompromised video.
For example, multiple cameras can be located at different positions in a particular location and can capture an incident that occurs in the location. Each of the cameras can be connected to a different digital video recorder (DVR) or network video recorder (NVR). Traditionally, exporting video of the incident would involve creating individual data streams from each DVR and then manually creating a DVD of the incident that includes the video data streams from each DVR. To review the captured incident, each data stream would be played one by one rather than at the same time. Playing the video data streams one by one prevents any reference to the relationships between each camera.
Systems and methods have been developed to export individual data streams and merge them together as a single data stream using a video authoring tool. However, in these systems and methods, the data streams cannot have different formats. Rather, the video data streams must be configured and modified so they are all in the same format in terms of resolution, frames per second, compression, duration and the like. When this occurs, the integrity of the video is compromised.
Accordingly, there is a continuing, ongoing need for a system and method of exporting and playing video from different video recorders at the same time and in a single viewing window while maintaining the integrity of the video. Preferably, such systems and methods can play video in different formats without reformatting or reconfiguring the video.